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The first time I saw Todd Park was in 2010 at Health 2.0, an annual conference that showcases up-and-coming health technology start-ups. As chief technology officer of Health and Human Services, Park appeared on stage with Aneesh Chopra who held the newly-created post of Chief Technology Officer. I thought how boring is this going to be, really, while thinking it mildly odd to have senior government people appearing at such a venue. No one would mistake bureaucracy for innovation. Just take a look at Medicare’s lame website that is supposed to help patients compare hospitals. As a journalist, it recently took me three weeks to get through to someone at HHS.

Park and Chopra turned out to be the antithesis of bureaucrats. They were a dynamic duo, inviting entrepreneurs and software developers to mine a slew of raw health-related data the government is releasing. Making it sound cool, Park called it “data liberacion.” Chopra stepped down as CTO last month, and Park took his post this past Friday to the delight of the tech community.

What sets Park apart is his background as a serial entrepreneur. In 1997, he co-founded with Jonathan Bush athenahealth, a seller of practice management services and electronic health records, with a market cap of $2.7 billion. His brother Ed, athenahealth’s chief operating officer, helped develop the software. In 2008, he co-founded Castlight Health, a company that challenges the status-quo among health care providers. It allows patients to compare costs for medical procedures and doctor visits, highlighting the wild price variations that exist for example, for a cholesterol test.

Speaking at SXSW, Park said: “Not only is it possible to do lean startup in federal government, but it’s the most effective way to drive change in the federal government.” With him in charge.